WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2017
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
NEWS
Umatilla teacher
named civic scholar
HERMISTON HERALD
A Umatilla School Dis-
trict teacher has been named
a 2017-18 civic scholar, a
statewide honor that recog-
nizes teachers dedicated to
civics education.
Chris Early, a civics
teacher at Umatilla High
School, was selected by
state Rep. Greg Smith,
R-Heppner, for the honor.
Each state representative
selects two teachers from
their district to be civic
scholars, and those teach-
ers are enrolled for the
Civics Conference at the
state Capitol in December.
Early has taught in the
Umatilla School District
for 13 years. He said he
was surprised by the nom-
ination, but was looking
forward to attending the
conference.
“I wouldn’t miss it,” he
said. “I’ll be in good com-
pany.”
Early said he tries to
help students become criti-
cal thinkers.
“I look to equip students
to discern what’s good in-
formation and what’s not,”
he said. That includes
talking about the U.S. gov-
Chris Early
ernment from a structural
standpoint.
“I try to give students
a thorough grounding in
the Constitution,” he said.
“This is why our gov-
ernment looks the way it
does.”
The conference will
feature presentations from
each branch of govern-
ment, and lessons from
master teachers about how
to implement civics les-
sons into curriculum.
“I expect to come away
with a lot of good stuff for
my students,” Early said.
The conference is put
on by the Classroom Law
Project, a program dedicat-
ed to engaging students in
government.
STAFF PHOTO BY JADE McDOWELL
Sunset Park in Hermiston awaits the arrival of new
playground equipment.
City to celebrate
groundbreaking for new
Sunset Park Thursday
Community members
are invited to celebrate a
hard-won victory that will
result in new playground
equipment at Sunset Park.
A celebration will be
held Thursday at 4 p.m.
at the park, located at the
intersection of North-
east Fourth Street and
East Dogwood Ave. The
groundbreaking ceremony
to begin installation of the
new equipment is a result
of Hermiston residents
rallying votes to win an
online contest sponsored
by Moda Health and the
Portland Trail Blazers,
pledging one dollar per
assist during the Blazers’
2017 season.
Attending the ceremo-
ny on behalf of the Port-
land Trail Blazers will be
vice president of social
responsibility
Christa
Stout and Moda Health se-
nior vice president Robin
Richardson.
Boys and girls ages
7-10 have also signed
up to participate in four
30-minute basketball clin-
ics taught by a Blazers
camp staffer (not to be
confused with members
of the Blazers coaching
staff), according to Moda
corporate social respon-
sibility manager Karis
Stoudamire-Phillips. The
clinics will take place
from 3-5 p.m.
Hermiston won the
Moda Assist competition
in March, beating out
schools in Portland and
Tillamook by more than
4,000 votes. The contest
was expected to net about
$20,000 for the park.
SCHOOL IS IN SESSION!
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World War II started, Benja-
min was too old to be draft-
ed and Ralph, their oldest
child, was too young.
“Mother wanted to know
from Dad what was the best
job for a woman that could
make the most money, and
he said that was as a weld-
er,” Muriel said.
So Geneva learned to
weld and began working on
Navy ships in Tacoma. She
was one of the only female
welders around, but it didn’t
faze her.
“I was so busy that I
didn’t have time to have it
bother me,” she said.
Ralph said his parents
always worked hard to give
their children a good life,
and Geneva frequently sac-
rificed things she needed —
even new underwear — so
that her children could en-
joy their childhood.
“I remember that holey
underwear hanging on the
line and I used to shake my
head, but I couldn’t refuse
that dollar to go ice skating
with my girlfriend,” Ralph
said.
He said his mom nev-
er complained, even when
the family’s vacation plans
meant that she went straight
from a long graveyard shift
to a six-mile hike with the
family. As Geneva’s only
boy, he said he could “do
no wrong in her eyes” and
that knowledge affected his
choices his entire life.
“I did the best I could not
to shame her and the fami-
ly,” he said. “I avoided a lot
of mischief because of my
love for her.”
When Ralph decided to
become a doctor, his par-
ents told him they couldn’t
afford to help pay his tu-
ition, but they did help in
other ways. He used to mail
his laundry home and his
mother would do it for him
and send it back, which at
the time was cheaper than
going to a laundromat.
Muriel said her moth-
er was a “super-mom” and
she’s grateful they have
been able to remain close.
“Dad died in about 1983,
so Mom and I have been
kind of pals since then,” she
said.
Surrounded by family
and friends on Thursday,
Geneva accepted birthday
hugs, well-wishes and cards
that she read out loud to the
group. She wore pink for
the special occasion, along
with a rose and a birthday
sash. Muriel announced
to the group that Geneva
had become a great-great-
grandmother for the first
time a few days earlier.
Geneva said she was
grateful to everyone who
came, and thought the cake
was delicious.
“Thank you all,” she
said, after struggling to find
the right words to express
her emotions.
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Contact Jade McDowell
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va would come home from
school each day with her
brother to a cold house and
they would have to start the
fire and dinner while their
mother was at work. Gene-
va eventually dropped out
of high school to help sup-
port the family.
She met Benjamin Ralph
Eddings at a dance hall, and
remembers thinking how
good-looking he was. They
married when she was 20
and the couple had three
children.
“I don’t know that they
expected me,” Muriel, the
youngest, said. “I was a sur-
prise.”
Muriel was born in the
midst of the Great Depres-
sion, and her father was laid
off from the railroad and
traveled the country for a
while until he found a job
as a longshoreman. When
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Ralph Eddings of Snoqualmie, Washington, at left, tells a
story about his mother, Geneva, during her 109th birthday
party on Thursday in Hermiston.
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Geneva Eddings raised her family in the Tacoma area with
her husband Benjamin Ralph Eddings.
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Geneva Eddings turned
109 on Thursday, but if you
want to know the secret to
living a long life you’ll have
to ask someone else.
“I haven’t the foggiest
idea,” she said.
Her children, who are all
older than 80, have a few
ideas.
“It’s the genes, I guess,
and good honest living,” her
son, Ralph Eddings, said.
He and his sister Muriel
Eddings celebrated Gene-
va’s birthday with her at
Regency Hermiston Nurs-
ing and Rehabilitation Cen-
ter, along with staff and a
few other family members.
They said their mother nev-
er smoked, rarely drank
and placed an emphasis on
fruits and vegetables that
was ahead of her time.
Parts of Geneva’s mem-
ory are fading, but one can’t
blame her for not recall-
ing some details from her
childhood or exactly how
her husband proposed. She
was married before many
peoples’ grandparents were
born.
Still, she always recog-
nizes family and can recall
hiking, picnicking, fishing
and other activities with her
children as they grew up.
“We played games,” she
said. “I just enjoyed being
with them. I love them.”
Geneva was born in
1908, just a month before
Henry Ford unveiled the
Model T automobile. Her
father had left Virginia to
work on the railroad in the
Pacific Northwest, and her
mother soon followed in a
cross-country train while
eight months pregnant. Af-
ter Geneva was born in Troy,
Idaho, the family moved to
Pullman, Washington, and
then Colfax, Washington,
where she spent most of her
childhood.
Geneva’s father died
of the Spanish flu when
she was 9, forcing her dis-
abled mother to go to work
in a laundry to support the
family. Muriel said Gene-
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Mitch Eddings, of Snoqualmie, Washington, helps his grandmother, Geneva Eddings, with her birthday cards during her
109th birthday party on Thursday in Hermiston.
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